The 5 best Super Mario games

Quoted freely from Wikipedia:

Mario Day is a celebration of the Super Mario franchise that takes place on March 10 annually because a shortening of the date, "MAR10," spells similar to Mario's name, especially in all capital letters. Fans use the holiday to set up their own festivities, such as simply playing Super Mario games or dressing up as Mario, among others.

So this week saw Mario Day, which of course means a tribute from Gamereactor. Because I think we can all agree that the gaming world wouldn't be what it is today if Nintendo and Mario had led the way, in turns. So. In anticipation of Switch 2 and the announcement of either Odyssey 2 or Galaxy 3, I've written about what I consider to be the five best Super Mario titles released. Congrats, Mario!

(5) Super Mario Land

Satoru Okada and Gunpei Yokoi worked together on iconic, immortal Nintendo classics like Metroid and Kid Icarus, and when it came time for Super Mario and his record-breaking moustache to make their Game Boy debut, it was these capable gentlemen who were tasked with translating his feverish platforming into the monochrome, portable format. I remember very well how much I loved this game when the Game Boy was first rolled out. The fact that the Mushroom Kingdom had been replaced by the new world of Sarasaland this time around struck me as fresh and memorable. Okada & Yokoi had taken inspiration from ancient Egyptian design styles, Easter Island, and the mythology and manners of both Bermuda and 16th century China, and the result was originality, packed into a small, light grey plastic case.

(4) Super Mario Bros 2

I have only in the last five years completely re-evaluated this game. Because there was certainly a time when I ranked Super Mario Bros (1) higher and especially Super Mario Bros 3. There was a time when I thought that this was, in all honesty, pretty bad and had far too little to do with the 'Mario feel', for obvious reasons. Because as we all know, it was never intended to be a Super Mario game but was about other characters in a different world, in Japan, but was re-directed at the last minute so that Nintendo of America / Europe would have a big title to lean on during the 1988 Christmas sales. I dug it out a few years ago, though, after getting tired of how laggy the Mini NES felt in the most precision-demanding games, and hooked up my old NES to a chunky TV I'd been saving, mostly to show my son Frank a stack of these classics from my childhood. And with Super Mario Bros 2, we were hooked, for several reasons. I like the slower pace, for starters. I like the quirky original design much more today than I used to and it has held up so very well over the years.

(3) Super Mario Galaxy

I was never a big fan of the Nintendo Wii. As those of you who read and have read Gamereactor on a regular basis will know. Motion gaming was nothing for me. It always felt like a tired gimmick to me, in the same way that VR did (and still does) or stereoscopic 3D at the cinema. There is an exception though, or two. And these are called Galaxy. Miyamoto's use of motion control in Super Mario Galaxy stands as one of the most whimsically ingenious things the gaming world has ever seen and, as with Super Mario World and Super Mario 64, Galaxy is infused with Nintendo magic, charm, personality and variety. I remember the moment the disc arrived with us at Gamereactor, too. It was the first week of November 2007, and Jonas Elfving had already picked up the game for review. While Jonas played for the next few days, I sat next to him, even though I didn't really have time because we had a print deadline to work towards as usual, and smiled with my whole face at all the ingenuity and innovation it contained. Sure, the second one is probably even better (how is that possible) but it's the first one that grabs this position on my very personal top list.

(2) Super Mario 64

I was reviewing games for the local newspaper at the time, and a little over a month before the release of the hysterically hot, highly anticipated Nintendo 64, I distinctly remember catching glandular fever. And yes, I got sick as a plague infected little vole. Hospitalised and everything. Lost a lot of weight, barely had the strength to stand up for weeks. In the middle of this, my early review machine (N64) plus Pilotwings 64, Wave Race 64 and Super Mario 64 arrived at the newspaper and it was my older sister who picked up the package for me. I remember how weak I was when I cut the tape holding the box together and how incredibly excited I was when I unpacked the Nintendo 64 box and plugged in the machine for the first time. The rest is... The rest is history. I'll never forget my first tentative steps into the most inviting 3D world I've ever seen, just like I'll never forget those iconic moments that Super Mario 64 was packed with. The luge race against that cocky penguin. When that annoying little monkey popped Mario's cap, that first Bob-omb boss death up on the mountain, the super charming hub world, and the moment when Mario finally got his wings on his hat and could explore worlds from the air. Incredible game, incredible gaming memories.

THE BEST SUPER MARIO GAME OF ALL TIME:

(1) Super Mario World

Expectations on my part (on everyone's part) were sky high. Nintendo's new console was on its way and the brochure I picked up at the local toy store Korg-Olles told me about the new Super Mario game, which looked absolutely phenomenal beforehand. However, I couldn't afford a Super Nintendo. In fact, back in 1991, I couldn't even afford a controller. Or a box of chips, with potato seasoning on them. So it was lucky that my classmate bought the device plus Super Mario World on opening day, finished it in a couple of days (he even stayed home from school to play, blaming a fever) and then lent it to me. I was obsessed with how charming, changeable, challenging and fantastically imaginative it was, Miyamoto's acclaimed 16-piece masterpiece. There's so much charm, personality and that elusive Nintendo magic in this game that it's hard to do it justice in text form, no matter the amount of superlatives. For me, it will always, always, always stand as number uno in terms of the corpulent plumber's well-fuelled all-star career.